Free State assistant coach Adam Barmann, left, works with a player during Monday's practice. Barmann was a quarterback at KU from 2003 to 2006.

Playful summer pick-up games gave way to action-packed drills and intense focus Monday afternoon at Free State High, as the school’s fall sports teams hit the field for the first time in 2008.

All seven FSHS fall sports were in action Monday, the first day allowed by the Kansas State High School Activities Association.

For the Firebirds, that meant starting from scratch in many ways, as several programs lost key starters from their 2007 squads.

“It’s a brand-new team,” said FSHS football coach Bob Lisher, who will attempt to replace 13 of 22 starters, including eight on the defensive side of the ball. “The sophomores and juniors from last year are now juniors and seniors. It’s their time to shine.”

Across campus, FSHS boys soccer coach Jason Pendleton faced a similar plight as Monday marked a new beginning for his team, which lost eight of 11 starters from a season ago.

For Pendleton, the goal Monday was not as much about reaching a specific performance plateau as it was about seeing what his team was made of.

“We’re in a rebuilding phase, there’s no question about that,” Pendleton said. “The big thing for us is how the kids compete. These guys are competing right away, and we’re pleased with that.”

Near the soccer fields, FSHS girls tennis coach Jon Ritchey gave his girls no choice but to compete, as the Firebirds were thrown into an intrasquad battle right out of the gate.

“I don’t want to be the kind of coach that just puts them in a random order,” Ritchey said. “This way they get to show me where they belong and they get to earn their spot on the ladder.”

All but four of Ritchey’s players – returning junior varsity athletes and newcomers – played through a single-elimination tournament to determine who ranks where on the team’s pecking order. Adding to Ritchey’s urgency was the fact that the FSHS girls kick off the fall sports season Saturday at the Shawnee Heights Invitational.

Indoors on Monday, Free State volleyball coach Nancy Hopkins felt a familiar twitch that accompanies the beginning of every new season.

“I’m never comfortable,” Hopkins said. “I’m always nervous about how it’s going to play out. But I do know this, we’re pretty loaded.”

Despite losing five seniors from last year’s team, the FSHS volleyball squad opened 2008 with a talented group of returners, lessening the blow of their reloading project.

In addition to these sports, the FSHS gymnastics and girls golf teams kicked off their practices Monday, as well.

One surprising element felt by several FSHS coaches and athletes was the cooler-than-normal temperatures they practiced in. Typically, the first week or two of fall sports practices are accompanied by heat advisories and coaches focused on avoiding the dangers of dehydration. Monday, there was no such concern from the coaches or the players.

“I guess it depends on how cold they keep their houses,” Pendleton said. “I guess if it’s 66 degrees inside and they’ve been playing (video game systems) Wii and 360 all summer, it feels pretty hot out here.”

Senior lineman Grahm Saunders was relieved by the sub-90 degree temperatures, cloud cover and slight breeze.

“I thought it was going to be terrible,” Saunders said. “Usually the end of the summer is pretty rough. But this is nice. It makes it a lot easier to go hard. No excuses at all.”

Practices for all seven sports resume this afternoon.